Students Raise Thousands for Parkinson’s Research at Annual Pancake Breakfast

Students and members of the Charlottesville community had some tasty options Saturday morning at the 13th annual “Pancakes for Parkinson’s” charity breakfast, held on the University of Virginia’s historic Lawn.

“P4P,” as the students affectionately call it, is the largest student-run charitable event at UVA and a mainstay of UVA’s Homecoming Weekend. This year’s breakfast was no different. Students, alumni and friends of the University swarmed the Lawn in droves to enjoy a sparkling fall day while raising money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research.

Pancakes for Parkinson’s Co-Chair Katie Aichholz said Monday her team is still counting the donations from Saturday.

“We hope to know the final number in the next week. However, the day before the event we had already raised about $40,000,” she said. “Last year we were able to donate $58,000 to the Michael J. Fox Foundation and we are hoping to exceed this amount.”

Since UVA’s Pancakes for Parkinson’s chapter launched in 2004, it has raised more than $470,000 for the cause.

The charity event has grown in popularity over the years.

Huddled over smoking griddles and armed with spatulas, volunteers served more than 10,000 pancakes with the generous help of several sponsors. “Trader Joe’s was able to help us reach this number as they donated 450 pounds of pancake batter, 550 ounces of chocolate chips, 50 gallons of orange juice and samples of cookie butter,” Aichholz said.

There was also coffee from Grit Coffee, tea from Bigelow and financial support from others, including the Office of the Dean of Students and the Michel J. Fox Foundation itself.

Student volunteerism was also up. “Each year we have a committee of at least 40 students, and then this year had over 300 volunteers sign up and help out at the event,” Aichholz said.

“I believe that Pancakes for Parkinson’s is consistently UVA’s largest student-run event due to the community impact to UVA and Charlottesville.”

Her co-chair, Sam Baughan, said the team is incredibly grateful for the community support. “We want to give a huge ‘thank you’ to all of our donors and corporate sponsors that helped make this event happen. The event would never be able to happen if it weren’t for them,” he said. “The success of this event is a testament to the philanthropic nature of the Charlottesville community, and the community’s willingness to give back to help an important cause.”

Donors are invited to give to UVA’s Pancakes for Parkinson’s throughout the year. All of the proceeds benefit the Fox Foundation, the world’s largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson’s disease research.